2nd half of the zodiac story
by kashii marii
Summary: Akito's best friend within the Sohma's comes back from America to visit. But her trip back to the Sohma household won't be all fun and games.
1. listen to us

Title: The 2nd half of the Zodiac story

The new character in this is Phoenix: Akito's favorite girl and best friend within the Sohma family and the one everyone tries to keep distance from. After living in America so long, Phoenix comes back, just to find out who really is her enemy.

CHAPTER 1: Listen to us 

Two weeks after winter began, all the leaves have finally hit the ground but the last one that has just fallen on Momiji's head. He giggles as he grabs the leaf from his head, twirling it around his fingers as he kept walking home. Like usual, the household is silent, partly because it's suppertime right about now. Momiji looks up into the sky, staring at the huge gray clouds until a sarcastic laugh destroyed the peace, catching his attention. He turns his head towards Akito's home, where the Shoji screens are open. Knowing he shouldn't be wandering towards Akito's home, he felt drawn to the sarcastic tone. He creeps up to the home, hiding in the bush to end up hearing two voices, one not so familiar until it lets out a laugh.

"Ha, ha, ha… you really believe that to be funny?" The voice asks Akito. Akito shrugs.

"No, you just assume I would."

"You are right my dear Akito." As the conversation goes on, Momiji feels a tug on his shirt. Zoning out of the conversation to see who it is, he sees Kisa, smiling brightly and taking a seat next to him.

"Momiji," Kisa whispers to him, "What are you doing?"

"Shh…" Momiji replies with a finger between his lips, and then pointing to the window, "Listen."

"I will kill her if you wish me to." Momiji and Kisa turn white from hearing those words from that unfamiliar voice. "After all, I would do anything you ask of me."

"Thank you…" Momiji and Kisa didn't listen to what next Akito was about to say. Instead they both stood and ran as silent as they could. From within the Shoji screens sitting near it, the girl, in her dark red Chinese dress, can see the two running. Her face is covered by the shadows, but you can still notice the part of her hair not held in two buns, which is the color or nighttime. She smiles seeing the two run with her glossy red lips.

"Akito…" the girl says, turning her attention back to his, where he stands, leaning against the wall behind her. "That was cruel of you to have me say those words just to scare away those kids."

"You didn't think I was serious?" The girl smile fades.

"You really wish for me to…" Silence fell between them as Akito leans off the wall to lean on the girls' back, with his arms wrapped around her stomach.

"Will you please? For me." As the girl thought about what to do, the shoji screen doors open up, revealing Hatori, kneeling on the ground.

"Akito, it is time for your appointment now." Akito cringes his face as he gets off of the girls' back.

"I'll be there." Akito said back, in an irritated way. Hatori nods as he closes the door. Sighing, "Curse this weak body of mine…"

"Don't be so hard on yourself, dear." Akito tilts his head her direction, rubbing his shoulder before grabbing her chin to bring close to his face.


	2. where are you?

Chapter 2: Where are you -------? 

Peace roams over Shigure's home as Kyo is in the backyard practicing his punches over and over, Yuki is in his room studying, Tohru at the dining table writing a letter, and Shigure is lying his head on the dining room table across from Tohru. Kyo ceases his punches to turn Shigure's way.

"Yo! If your goanna sleep, do so in your room!" Shigure turns his head sideways to stare at Kyo. "And who may I ask is the one who pays the bills around here?"

"It doesn't matter! You're bothering Tohru!"

"N-no! It's all right! I don't mind at all!" a ringing noise is then heard causing Shigure to sigh.

"Aww… the phone." Lazily, Shigure stands up walking to the phones direction in the hallway. As Shigure was answering the phone, Yuki was already running down the stares to go answer it himself. "Hello? It's Shigure…" Yuki shrugs and then decides to go into the kitchen.

After grabbing himself a glass of milk tea, he notices Tohru in the dining room. Yuki smiles as he walks up to her. "Tohru, would you like something to drink?" Tohru shakes her head before turning her head to face Yuki.

"No thank you. I already had something to drink."

"Hey! Tohru!" Both Yuki and Tohru face Kyo's direction as he enters the house. "What're we having for lunch?"

"Ah! Lunch! I almost forgot!" Tohru jumps up, running into the kitchen. Kyo sighs.

"Damn, I'm getting hungry… huh?" Kyo reaches out to grab the letter Tohru was writing. "Dammit… I can't read this."

"Stupid Cat," Yuki says before taking another sip from his glass. "You're not supposed to read it anyways."

"Don't call me stupid! And besides, look!" Kyo waves the paper in front of Yuki. Irritated, Yuki grabs it before trying to read it. Seconds later, Yuki places it back onto the table, walking away.

"We're not supposed to read it anyways stupid cat."

"See! You can't read it either!" Tohru laughs as she enters the living room with a bowl and a mixing spoon in hands.

"That's great!" Tohru says with a wide grin.

"Huh? I don't get this! The characters are in the English language but…"

"Oh… no, that's just Kyo again." Shigure says to the phone. "So is that the only reason you called Ayame? Or did you want to talk to Yuki?"

"Hahahaha! Oh no…" Ayame says from the other line. "Even if I did want to talk to Yuki, he wouldn't answer it! He'd probably tell you to tell me that I'm not even here!"

"Then what did you call for?"

"Can we at least have that in soup?" Kyo says in his loud voice.

"Have what in soup?" Ayame asks. Shigure laughs.

"That was Kyo again."

"Oh! I wanted to tell you that Phoenix is here." Shigure frowns. "Her mother has a business meeting here, so the two of them will be staying at the Sohma household for a while. Of course, with Phoenix being in Akito's guest room."

"Is that it?"

"Well yes! I just wanted to warn you is all. Because who knows? She might come over there to mess with Tohru's head."

"Alright. Thanks." Shigure hangs up with a deep sigh. He leans against the wall behind him while looking up at the ceiling. While dwelling in his thoughts, he could still hear Kyo talking to Tohru in his loud voice. Shigure sighs one more time before walking into the kitchen. "What's all the yelling in here about?" Tohru smiles at Shigure as she chops miso.

"Kyo is trying to crack my letter's code."

"Well there's no way this could be English!" Shigure smiles as he rolls up his sleeves.

"Ok! The novelist is here!" Shigure yells out, "Show me this letter and I'll crack the clue!" Kyo hands the letter to Shigure. "Lets see now…" Shigure takes a pair of glasses out from his yukata, putting them on. Little seconds later, he responds, "Is this the English version of Pig Latin?"

"Eh? You know about it?" Tohru cries, halting from her chopping.

"I do, but it's hard to read it still. So who is it that you're sending this letter to? She must be very flexible with her languages."

"A cousin of mine in America. It's been a while since I've been able to reply to her messages partly because she was still sending them to my grandpa's house. So today I just got the letters back and found out she's visiting Japan." Tohru sighs, "But it's too bad that she'll get this letter when she comes back from Japan."

"Why is that?"

"It takes 2 weeks for a letter overseas to come over here and plus I didn't get this letter for a month partly because it was at my grandpa's house. So when I send this to her, another two weeks would have gone by and she'll be back home a week before she gets this."

"Do you have any clues where she'll be?"

"With her cousin on her moms side. But I don't know where that is."

"Ya know…" Kyo says scratching his chin. "If you know her last name, you could probably look it up." Shigure looks at him with a shocked expression.

"MY GOD!" Shigure yells backing away from him, "This isn't Kyo! This one sounds to smart to be Kyo!"

"What the hell's that suppose to mean?" As the two start bickering back and forth to each other, Tohru smiles as she prepares the stew. But then a frown appears on her face along with the question in her mind, "I hope Tammy is alright… she never did get along much with her family sorta like…" she turns around to look at Kyo.


	3. I've done nothing yet

**Chapter 3: I've done nothing yet.**

"Don't worry Akito, I'll be back by dinner." The girl says closing the door behind her. After being in Akito's shadowy home for so long, she couldn't help but wince at how bright it is outside, even with all the gray clouds of winter covering the sky. Her hair is still in two buns with her long black bangs hanging from the side of her face. The color of the rest of her hair is maroon and today, instead of wearing a Chinese dress like she did a few days ago, she's wearing black pants, a black trench coat and a maroon colored scarf. After taking her first few steps outside of Akito's home after so long, she hears whispers to her left, drawing her to turn her head to that direction. She sees Ritsu talking to Momiji and Kisa who all turn to stare at her. The girl waves at them but there response made it unbearable to her. Ritsu and Kisa looked at her with fright in their eyes as Momiji takes a step back, returning her wave with a nervous one. Aiko takes a deep breath before walking up to them. Ritsu stiffens up along with Kisa before bowing.

"Good day to you, Miss. Phoenix. I-I haven't seen you in a while." Ritsu says. Phoenix smiles before replying.

"Akito didn't want me to leave." Phoenix turns her attention to Momiji and Kisa. She gives them a nervous smile before kneeling down to their level. "Hi. I haven't met you two before. I'm Phoenix Sohma."

"I-I'm Momiji Sohma." Momiji says nervously before placing his hands on Kisa's shoulders. "And this is Kisa Sohma."

"Are you two a part of the zodiac curse?" Kisa gasps. But she replies with a nod and a yes. "You two are very cute. I wouldn't be surprise if someone has a crush on either one of you." Momiji giggles.

"He he… thanks." Momiji replies. Phoenix keeps her smile on her face as she stands back up straight, facing Ritsu face to face. "I'm afraid that this might be my only day outside of Akito's home. So I'll be around town, alright?" Ritsu nods. "Well then, I guess I'll see you three later." Phoenix waves goodbye as she runs off. As soon as she was out of sight, Ritsu sighs a relief.

"She didn't seem that bad Ritsu." Momiji says. "But… there was…"

"According to legend, she was the pet." Ritsu places his hand on Momiji and Kisa's back. "It's best that we don't go near her, ok?" The two nods.

As Phoenix gets to the gate she sighs relief as she opens it, but to both her and to the person on the other side, they didn't expect to see each other. "Hee," Phoenix smiles, "Hey Shigure." Shigure gives her a cold look as he walks past her.

"Hello." Phoenix turns around to stare at him, tears pricking at her eyes.

"Ya know Shigure," Phoenix says allowed, "Can you explain to me why you and the other zodiac members hate me so much?" Shigure stops at his tracks. "Cuz ya know, I only noticed you guys hating on me when I started hanging out with Akito? Why is that?" Shigure turns his body around a bit to face her. He smirks before he turns back around to continue walking. Phoenix watches him a little bit as he walks away before turning back around to go outside. Shigure sighs before looking to his left; Where Akito stands in the shadows of a tree. "Akito?" Shigure says shocked. "What are you doing out? You're supposed to stay inside, you might get sick." Shigure takes off his jacket to put around Akito's shoulders. Akito nuzzles the jacket a little bit before saying anything.

"What did you want to talk to me about Shigure?" Shigure's worried expression turned into one of sadness.

"Come on, I better take you inside first."

As the day turns into night, Kyo answers a phone call while brushing his teeth. "Hello?"

"Hello? Is Tohru there?"

"OH, yea. I'll get her. Tohru!" Kyo yells up the stares. "Yo! Tohru!" Tohru runs up towards the steps breathing heavily.

"Kyo? Yes?"

"Here!" Kyo waves the phone in the air. "It's for you." Tohru's eyes widened a bit before she ran down to answer the phone.

"Thank you Kyo."

"Whatever." Kyo says as he goes back to the bathroom.

"Hello?"

"Tohru?"

"Auntie Ma-"

"Tohru, I'm in the car now driving by. Guess whose with me."

"Huh?" Tohru's Aunt sighs.

"It's Tammy. She's been looking everywhere for you. She just stopped by at grandpa's house looking for you. So I'm driving her over. We'll be there in about 2 minutes. Sorry, but I'm going to be late for a meeting, so I won't be able to say Hi."

"Oh, it's no problem!"

"Sheesh, you sound so happy that I won't be there. Well, I'll talk to you later Tohru. Bye!"

"Bye." As soon as Tohru hangs up, she squeals in joy. "Oh my gosh! She's coming!" Tohru starts jumping up and down in the air with much delight. "Yay! She's coming! She's coming!" Kyo comes out of the restroom wiping water off his mouth with his arm.

"Who's coming?"

"Tammy! My cousin! Oh my gosh! I can't believe she found me! Eh?" Tohru freezes, looking down at her outfit seeing she's in pajamas. "Oh my gosh! I better go change!" Tohru starts running up the stairs, almost tripping.

"Hey! Be careful! And you don't need to change! Is nighttime already! Sheesh…" Knock. Knock. Knock. "What the? It must be that girl Tohru's jumping all over for." Kyo murmurs to himself as he walks up to the door answering it. The person who he sees caused him to jump back a few steps in fear. "Y-you!"


	4. Like to hear a story?

CHAPTER 4: Like to hear a story? 

"Y-you!" Kyo stares in fright at the girl standing before him. She sighs as she takes her black high heel shoes off and steps into the house.

"Gosh… You don't need to sound so scared, Kyo."

"Who's at the door, Kyo?" Yuki asks as he walks down the steps. He turns white in fear as he looks at the girl with red eyes. "P-Phoenix?" Phoenix puts a hand on her face.

"Damn this sucks." She looks back at Yuki. "I was told Tohru Honda lives here. Does she?"

"Grab her!" Yuki yells pointing at Kyo.

"Got it!" Kyo grabs Phoenix by both her wrists from behind.

"Hey!" As Yuki runs up the stairs Phoenix tries to turn her head around to look back at Kyo, but he keeps turning her in different ways to avoid eye contact with her. "Why are you doing this to me Kyo?"

"You're here to mess with Tohru's head aren't you?"

"I'm not! Let go of me!"

"Ms. Honda!" Yuki yells as he knocks on Tohru's door. "Ms. Honda! Are you in there? Hello?" Tohru opens the door wearing a new change in clothes. Yuki stares at her, seeing her in the school uniform. "Why are- oh, never mind, come on!" Yuki grabs her by the wrist about to head for the stairs but stops.

"Hey! Wait!" Tohru yells. "What's going on?"

"No time to explain." Yuki lets go of her wrists, heading towards the window. As he gets it open, he looks out from it seeing the ladder that leads to the roof. "Ms. Honda, go onto the roof from here."

"Huh? But why?" Tohru asks as she runs up to him.

"I can't explain it yet but-"

"Hya!" Phoenix yells as she sends Kyo flying backwards hitting the wall behind him.

"Hurry Ms. Honda, hurry!" Yuki pushes her towards the window before he goes running downstairs. Tohru sighs as she climbs out the window and onto the ladder.

As Yuki runs down the stairs, Phoenix was there looking up from the bottom. A look of determination crosses Yuki's face as he puts both his hands against the walls. "I'm not letting you through."

"Fine, I'll force my way through!" Phoenix runs up the stairs at top speed, her arms hanging backwards as if she were ready to take flight. She head butts Yuki in the stomach, crashing him against the wall behind him. Phoenix looks around frantically till finally she notices the open window. She runs up to it, looking out and around and then noticing the ladder. As she climbs onto the ladder, she sticks her tongue out at Yuki. As she climbs up the ladder and Yuki sits up, rubbing his shoulder, Kyo runs up the step, taking in deep breaths.

"Where'd she go?" Kyo yells. Yuki points to the open window. Kyo runs to it, looking upwards. "Hey!" Phoenix gasps as she goes up the ladder faster, but she fails, feeling his hand around her ankle. She looks down, seeing him with one foot on the ladder, the other on the window, and his other hand hanging onto the ladder as well.

"Tohru Honda is on the roof isn't she?" Phoenix asks.

"Don't go anywhere near her bitch."

"She's up there isn't she?"

Tohru jolts up, hearing that unfamiliar voice. She carefully goes over to the edge of the roof, seeing Kyo and Phoenix fighting. Feeling her presence, Phoenix looks up into Tohru's eyes, seeing the fear in her. Kyo looks up a second later as well noticing it.

"Tohru! Run!"

"Shut up Kyo! Where could she run! Tohru! It's me! Tammy!" Kyo froze along with Yuki inside over hearing.

"You're…" Kyo mutters out, but not finishing his sentence.

"Tohru! What are you doing with my the Sohmas?"

W-what's going on?" Tohru asks almost in a whisper. Kyo and Phoenix stare at her in surprise.

"What do you mean?"

"W-why are you two fighting like that? Someone could get hurt." Phoenix smiles at her thoughtfulness.

"I'm glad you're worried about us. But, this is a family feud that even I don't understand." Kyo's eyes go into rage.

"You're the one who started the feud, bitch!" Kyo pulls Phoenix down hard and fast causing her to loose her grip on the ladder. As Phoenix goes down to the ground, Kyo lets go of her. One of Pheonix's last visions as she fell was seeing Tohru yelling and reaching a hand out to her. Phoenix shuts her eyes tightly as she catches on fire, hitting the ground below her.

"Are you sure you're alright Tammy?" Tohru asks as she wipes Pheonix's feathers with a wet towel. Both Tohru and Phoenix are outside moments later after the fall. Phoenix, now as a mystical bird sits up against the wall, looking down towards the ground.

"Yea… thanks Tohru." Silence passed between them till Phoenix sighs. "How long have you been with these guys?"

"Almost two years. I didn't know you were related to them before."

"No way you could have. They're part of my moms' side of the family. And when she got married, her last name changed."

"hehe… that's right." As Phoenix transforms back into a human, she hurriedly gets into her clothes that were right next to her. As soon as she gets back in her clothes, she sticks a tongue out, smiling.

"Hey, do you want to know why I transformed?"

"It's because you're a zodiac mem… wait…" Tohru thinks for a moment, "There… wasn't…"

"There wasn't any Phoenix in the zodiac. Yea. No kidding."

"Then how were you able to transform?" Phoenix smiles.

"God had a pet that didn't want to be living on earth." Tohru and Phoenix took a seat against the wall. "So, I became Gods' right hand… bird. But, the thing is, the phoenix wasn't a very good bird to the other creatures. Only to gods and humans. When the phoenix heard that god was about to hold a banquet, the phoenix got so mad, that it did everything to keep the animals from coming to the banquet. As the animals, invited to the party, were heading to the mountain for the banquet, the phoenix caused natural disasters to happen to keep them from coming. To bad for the phoenix, the plain failed and the animals made it to the banquet. As god gave each of the animals at the banquet a year, the phoenix got jealous, thinking that it wasn't gods' favorite creature anymore. So as the animals left the banquet, the phoenix went through higher measures, actually getting rid of the animals."

"Meaning…"

"The phoenix killed the animals. And from then on, I don't know the rest." Tohru stares at her in disbelief.

"I never heard that part of the story before." Phoenix laughs sarcastically.

"Ha. Ha. Ha. There are things most people want to keep secret. Only temples and our family know the rest." Phoenix lays her head against the wall, looking up into the sky. "Cool thing for me is, is that I don't transform as easily as the zodiac members and Kyo does. When I'm in mid air, I can transform…meaning I can't play jump rope as well…"

"Why is that?"

"I don't know. I think one of the reasons is is that the phoenix was still gods favorite pet even after all it did. Either way, the phoenix got punishment which I think deserved it too." Phoenix stood up, wiping some of the dirt off her pants. "I better get back to Akito's. I bet he's pissed." Phoenix laughed again, looking sad, before she waved goodbye to Tohru.


	5. you shouldn't have done that

Chapter 5: You shouldn't have done that to me. 

"I'm surprised she left without her shoes." Yuki says, eating a pocky stick. It's the next day and Yuki, Tohru, Kyo, and Shigure sat at the heater table watching TV.

"I'm surprised Tohru's related to her." Shigure says, leaning his face against his hand. "That must mean we're related to Tohru as well."

"Wrong." Both Yuki and Kyo say. Shigure looks over at Tohru, noticing she keeps staring more at the front door instead of the TV.

"Tohru, "Shigure says.

"Yes Shigure?" Tohru asks.

"Did Phoenix tell you her side of the zodiac story?" Tohru nods.

"Yes. She did."

"Good." Shigure stood up, stretching. "Would you like to go and visit her today?" Tohru's eyes grow wide.

"But… I thought you hated her as well."

"I do." Shigure says bluntly. "But that doesn't mean you should as well. Come on, let's go." Tohru smiles with delight as she heads out the room to the front door. As she puts her shoes on, she reminiscence on what happened yesterday, when Kyo threw her off the roof. She turns back around, calling towards Kyo.

"Kyo… you don't mind if I go do you?" Kyo turns his head towards her a bit, before facing the TV.

"No, just go." As Shigure and Tohru leave, Kyo and Yuki are left in the room alone.

"Tohru looked her maddest yesterday." Yuki says reminiscing as well.

As soon as Phoenix hit the ground, Tohru stared in horror at her, turning her hand that was reaching out to her into a fist. Phoenix was lying on the dirt ground, with little flames lit onto the bush; she turned into a Phoenix, but one that looked dead. Kyo, smiling with satisfaction, looks up at Tohru.

"_Hey! Come on, get down from…" One of Tohru's teardrops hit Kyo right on the forehead. Feeling this, Kyo felt regret about to overcome him. As Tohru climbed down the ladder, Kyo moves back into the house through the window thinking she would follow. Seeing that she didn't, Kyo looks back outside, seeing her aid to Phoenix's side. "Tohru! You got to stay away from her!"_

"_I can't…" Tohru replies, barely loud enough. Kyo raises a brow, before calling out to her again._

"_Come on! She's goanna mess with your head!" _

"_I don't care!" Tohru yells back. During this whole time, the two didn't even realize that Yuki had already stood up, and is now walking around the house towards Tohru and Phoenix._

"_Ms. Honda, Phoenix isn't someone you should go near." Yuki says, still grabbing hold of his shoulder._

"_Why? She's hurt! What if she broke a bone?"_

"_It…" Yuki looks to the ground. "It wouldn't be the worst thing." Tohru glares at him angrily._

"_Why did you try keeping her away from me?" When Yuki didn't reply, Tohru asked again. "Why?"_

"_She… isn't a very good person." Yuki looks towards the ground. _

"_Yuki… what did she do?" Tohru asked as calmly as possible. A moment of silence passed again._

"_I…"_

"_What did she do?" Yuki gulps._

"… _Nothing… nothing at all."_

"No kidding. Looked like she wanted to kill ya." Kyo says in reply. "Well, me too, but still…"

"Still what?"

"I… I don't get why I hate her. Every time I see her, I know my spirit wants to strangle her for some reason."

"Really? Mine wants to run away..." Silence went between them again as they waited for commercials to come back around. "Do you know the rest of the story?"

"Huh?" Kyo asks. "What the hell you talkin' about?"

"The rest of the zodiac story. Do you know it?" Kyo thought for a moment.

"I thought you would."


	6. The loyalty test part 1

Chapter 6: The Loyalty test part 1 

Three nocks on the door, and Akito answers it. The only person who he saw was Shigure, smiling back at him. Surprised but at the same time happy to see him, Akito asks, "What are you doing here?"

"I came to visit you Akito." Akito smile fades.

"What do you want?" Shigures' smile also fades. He stares to the side before facing back at Akito.

"Akito, remember what we were discussing about a few days ago?" Akito moves out of the way for Shigure to enter as he closes the door softly behind him.

Tohru sighs as she sat on the bench, looking up at the tree above her. The tree had no leaves on it and the sky was still covered with gray clouds, causing her to think it might rain. She fiddles with her hands as she looks around, noticing Kisa as Kisa notices her. The young girl smiles as she runs up to her.

"Sissy." Kisa says bowing to Tohru, "What are you doing here?"

"Hi Kisa," Tohru replies, bowing. "I'm here to see Ta… I mean, Phoenix." Kisa frowns, looking sulkily. Taking notice of this, Tohru's smile disappears into one of concern.

"Kisa, are you o…" Kisa grabs onto both of Tohru's hands, just holding onto them.

"Be careful Sissy." Kisa says loud enough for only Tohru to be able to hear.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Phoenix scares me. She scares us all." Tohru's eyes widened, scooting over to make room for Kisa to sit. Tohru gestures Kisa to sit next to her. As Kisa does so, Tohru asks her, "Is it because of what her animal spirit did?" Kisa looks up into Tohru's eyes.

"No. Ritsu-nii told me that story a few days ago after when I first met Miss. Phoenix. Ritsu-nii told me…" Kisa's voice fades a bit as she bent her head to face the ground. "He told me… What Miss. Phoenix did, along with what her curse spirit has done." Silence passed between the two.

"She did something terrible." Momiji says, sitting on the ground in between the two, his arms wrapped around his knees. Tohru and Kisa jumped, not realizing Momiji was even there.

"Momiji?" Tohru yells out, "Wh-when did you get here?" Momiji turns to look at Tohru, sticking a tongue out.

"Sorry. I saw you two sitting here so I decided to join you." Momiji smiles, but Tohru still looks serious.

"Momiji, do you know what Phoenix did?" Momiji frowns, turning away from them.

"Yea…" Momiji mutters out. "She may seem like a very good person, but she'll do anything she's told, no matter how bad it is. And when she does it, she acts as if she's done nothing wrong."

"What do you mean Momiji?" Momiji sighs.

"She's a very good actor. Before I was even old enough to have memories, she caught the grass on fire, blaming Kyo and Hatsuharu for it. She even got them to believe they did it, which means she could mess with our heads. Another time, she performed a massacre, killing a bird in front of Ritsu. When Ritsu went to go tell someone, she did something to him, that made him scared to tell anyone what happen. When a relative of ours found the bird, she acted so perfectly, that everyone was fooled into believing her. She asked one of our relatives if there was a cat, and probably that cat must have done it." Momiji smiles as he stands up to sit on Tohru's other side. "I sort of remember her. Not really, but I remembered her laugh. It used to scare me. When I heard it again after all these years, it still scared me. I know she did something to me before too, but thankfully, I forgot."

"Are you sure this is all true Momiji? You did say you weren't old enough to have memories after all."

"Ritsu told me."

"Me too." Kisa says as well.

"This story…" Tohru says, shaking in fear, "It doesn't sound anything like Tammy…" Momiji looks up at her.

"Whose Tammy?" Momiji asks.

"Tohru?" Tohru, Momiji, and Kisa turn to the voice, seeing Phoenix standing there in fear, her miniature backpack of a riceball slipping from her shoulders, down to her hand. "How long have you been there?" Tohru smiles, glad to see her friend.

"Almost thirty minutes now. Shigure said I can come visit you today, but he said I had to wait here for some reason." Phoenix's eyes widened in fear as she took a step back.

"A-are you sure?" Tohru tilts her head to the side.

"Tammy, are you alright?" Phoenix stood there, shaking. _"Phoenix…"_ Phoenix remembers Akito saying earlier. _"Shigure is here."_

_Phoenix turned around, seeing Akito enter in along with Shigure. The smug look on his face caused her to be nervous, but she ignored it, trying to keep as much composure as possible. "Hello Shigure."_

"_Likewise." Shigure replies. Akito took a seat next to Phoenix on the ground, along with Shigure across from them._

"_So what is it that you wanted to talk about?" Akito asks. Shigure looks at him and Phoenix back and forth before replying._

"_I wanted you to test her loyalty to you." Akito felt insulted._

"_What are you talking about?" Akito said raising his voice. "Why should I?"_

"_Phoenix." Shigure says, turning to her. She stares at him with a solemn look on her face._

"_Yes, Shigure?" _

"_You would do anything for Akito won't you?"_

"_Of course I would." Shigure grins._

"_Are you sure?"_

"_Yes." Akito stares at the two back and forth._

"_What are you doing Shigure?" Akito yells out._

"_Akito, I remember you before saying you wanted someone to die, correct?" Akito frowns. "And usually when that is so, you have Phoenix do it for you? Like back when we were younger… with the bird."  
_

"_What are you implying?"_

"_Here's your chance to find out how loyal Phoenix really is to you. That person you want dead is here, a few blocks down sitting on a bench."_

Phoenix makes her way back into the present, tears coming falling from her eyes. "I can't believe it…" Phoenix says, dropping her bag on the ground so she could grab onto her hair with both hands. "Why did he do this to me?" Phoenix whispers. Tohru stood up, reaching a hand out to her. As soon as Phoenix saw her approaching, she slaps it away, and begins to run. Everyone remained silent unsure of what just happened. Momiji stood up, picking up the rice ball-shaped bag to look inside it. His eyes widened with disbelief.

"Oh my gosh…" Momiji mutters out. Kisa stood up off the bench, to see what was in the bag. Her eyes widened as well. Tohru turns her head to look at the two. Momiji looks up at Tohru, tilting the bag her direction. Tohru almost didn't believe what she saw, which was a plastic bag, a knife, and sleeping pills.


	7. The loyalty test part 2

Chapter 7: The loyalty Test Part 2 

Akito frowns, hearing the news. He turns to Shigure who looked shocked as well. Akito grabbed his teacup and threw it at his head.

"Why did you do this Shigure?" Akito yelled as Shigure bled. Shigure knelled towards the ground, trying to hold the blood in. "I was glad enough to see her! I never wanted to know she'd disobey me!"

"Didn't she try to disobey you before?" Shigure yells. "Wasn't it you who wanted the endless banquet? We could have had that! But she had to destroy it!" Akito tries to hold in his rage as he storms out of the room, leaving Shigure bled. Shigure breathes in heavily as he smiles.

"Atta girl." Shigure mutters as he stares out the window.

_Huff, huff, huff_… As Phoenix runs out of the estates, into strange neighborhoods, Tohru, Momiji, and Kisa follow her behind closely, staying behind enough so they won't loose her. As they kept running, they finally made it into town, seeing Phoenix catching her breath at a lamppost. "Damn him!" Phoenix yells out, kicking the lamppost. A vibration runs through her before she felt the actual pain. As she grabs onto her foot, jumping from the pain, Momiji taps her on the arm. Phoenix stops jumping to listen to what he has to say.

"What were you about to do with this?" Momiji asks holding the bag up to Phoenix. Phoenix places her foot on the ground, looking at him, and then at the other two as they ran up. She takes a deep breath.

"Damn Shigure wanted Akito to test my loyalty. Shigure seemed to know who Akito wanted dead, I just never would have guessed it'd be Tohru." Everyone gasps. Phoenix looks to the ground, rubbing her shoulder from nervousness. "He calls you a lot of nasty names, Tohru. Ever since the first day, he's told me there's this girl who he hates and wants dead, but he never gave me a name, so either way, I never had a chance to go kill whoever it was that made him so mad."

"Akito would actually go this low?" Momiji asks, taking a step back.

"No, he wouldn't do the killing. I would." Phoenix takes a deep breath, struggling to say her next sentence. "As long as I'm in Japan, I live for Akito, and no one else. In a few days, I'll be going back to America and until then, I want you to stay away from me Tohru Honda."

"But why?" Tohru asks. "In our letters, we always talked about how we'd go eat Takoyaki with each other like when we were little."

"Yea, but that was before… I knew you were the enemy of my master!" Phoenix yells, turning her hands into a fist, her eyes looking as if they're about to create fire. Everyone stood back, afraid to get near her. "Come near me and I will kill you!" Tohru takes a step closer as Phoenix kept taking steps back. "I said I'll kill you Honda!"

"Go ahead." Momiji and Kisa stare at her, with a look saying 'are you crazy?' .

"W-what?" Phoenix asks with eyes as wide as Momiji's.

"If being dead will make you happy, then I don't mind." Tohru says smiling. Phoenix stares in her eyes, noticing her shake. Phoenix looks away, "Messing with peoples' heads was my job…" she says before she left. As they watch her leave, Kisa grabs onto Tohru's arm tightly. Tohru looks down at the little girl.

"Why did you agree to that Sissy?" Kisa asks. Tohru looks at her with relieved eyes as she patted her on the head.

"Don't worry about it Kisa."

"Yea…" Momiji says, scratching his head. "But now we got to wonder where she's going. And if Shigure really is behind all this."

"Wha?" Tohru asks, shocked. "What about Shigure?"

"Did you not hear her Sissy?" Kisa asks. "She said Shigure wanted to test her loyalty to Akito."

"R-really?" Momiji nods.

"Lets go find Shigure." Momiji says, grabbing Tohru's free hand.

"Wha, what about Ta… I mean Phoenix?"

"We'll worry about her later. Lets go Tohru!" Momiji yells, pulling her hard enough to start running.


	8. confessions from those cursed

**Chapter 8: Confessions from those cursed**

Shigure walks down the sidewalk, sometime after Hatori tended to his head, wrapping it in a bandage. Shigure kept looking up into the gray sky until he heard footsteps ahead. As he looked straight ahead, he could see Momiji then Tohru and then Kisa coming closer to him. They ran up to him, breathing heavily, trying to catch their breath. "Uh… are you guys alright?" Shigure asked, turning to his side to try and see their faces. Tohru, with much seriousness, looks into Shigure's eyes, yelling.

"Where is Tammy?" Shigure jumped back from her sudden yelling.

"W-what?"

"I mean Phoenix!" She was trying so hard to look tough when obviously, she is shaking in fear.

"Phoenix said something about you making her test her loyalty!" Momiji yells. "Did you really want Tohru dead? Huh Shigure? Huh?" Shigure's eyes widened as he took a few steps back. Suddenly, he dashes, catching them off guard. "Get back here!" Momiji yells as he runs after him. Tohru was about to run as well, but then she noticed Kisa was still gasping for air.

"Kisa, are you ok?" Tohru asks the small girl. Kisa waves her away. Muttering, "Go… after him Sissy." Before Tohru left, she gave her a hug.

Aimlessly, Phoenix ran with no clue where she is going. She just felt as if she needed to get away and to go someplace safe. She heard the planes above her and then stopped for a few seconds. She watched as the planes flew through the sky. _Why can't I do that?_ She thought. _I'm a bird after all… Shouldn't I be able to fly… like Kureno?_ Phoenix started running again, but this time, up ahead seeing Ritsu with a grocery bag. Phoenix gasped, then smiles, running up to hug him.

"Ahh! Miss. Phoenix!" Ritsu exclaims, frightened a bit till he heard sobbing.

"Ritsu…I… I scared you a lot when we were younger huh?" Phoenix tried holding back her tears, waiting to hear his response. Ritsu closed his eyes, thinking back.

"Y-yes, you did." Phoenix smiles as she hugged him tighter.

"That bird I killed when we were younger… no one was suppose to see that. Sorry I threatened you not to tell."

"It's all-"

"I was just envying it being able to fly away. And those times I called you all those horrible names, I never meant them. I was just trying to keep myself distant from the zodiac since that's what…" Phoenix's voice trailed off, going back into a sob. "I hate being back in Japan!" Phoenix lets go of Ritsu, grabbing her hair into a fist as she sobbed as Ritsu was trying to stop her.

"M-miss. Phoenix! You're going to hurt yourself!"

"Isn't that what everyone here wants? For me to get hurt emotionally or physically? To be a slave to the top guy here? I'll tell you this Ritsu: I rather be a zodiac then a frickin pet!" Phoenix went down to her knees, letting go of her hair. "I rather have spent this business trip with Tohru then to be stuck back at Akito's place. Mom should've just let me stay with dads side… this sucks."

"Calm down Miss. Phoenix!" Ritsu yells out moments later, biting his lip. Phoenix looks at him surprised.

"But… I am calming do-"

"Hurting yourself like that isn't going to get you anywhere!" Ritsu yells grabbing Phoenix by the arms, now scaring her.

"Uh… yea… but-"

"You shouldn't scare people like that either! I thought you were really going to hurt yourself! Be a little more considerate will you?"

"You're scaring me now…"

"At least you live in America! You don't need to go through Akito's torture each day like we do!"

"Huh?" Both Phoenix and Ritsu froze.

"AUGH! I'M SORRY! I SHOULDN'T HAVE SAID THAT! THAT WAS A MISTAKE! A MISTAKE! I'M SORRY MISS PHOENIX! THAT WAS WRONG OF ME TO SAY!" Ritsu yells, tugging his hair and running around.

"Hey! Now you calm down!" Phoenix yells as she wipes away her last tear. "Now you're hurting yourself!" Phoenix grabs Ritsu by one arm, being swung around, as Ritsu wouldn't stop running around. She smiles and then soon, Ritsu stops to stare at her. He smiles and then both laughs.

"I'm sorry Miss Phoenix." Ritsu says, laughing a bit, "I went out of line there."

"I did too!" Phoenix says still laughing. Ritsu grabs her softly by the chin, causing her to stop laughing and to wonder what he was doing.

"This is the Miss. Phoenix everyone wants to know." Ritsu says, smiling as Phoenix starts blushing.

"But isn't that too late? I mean, Kyo already threw me off the ladder as it is…"

"Huh?"

"Hmmm…" Phoenix thought. "I only have two days left to stay…" Phoenix slaps herself on the face, "Damn… I can't go back there…"

"Excuse me?" Ritsu asks, looking at her with concern. "Go back where?"

"To the Sohma Estates. I disobeyed Akito. He's not goanna want me back." Her voice lowers as dread overcomes her.

"What do you mean?"

"He… he wanted me to kill my childhood friend."

"HAHAHAHAHA SHIGURE! YOU ARE SLOWING DO-OWN!" Momiji taunts. Phoenix and Ritsu turn their heads to see the people running up. First up was Shigure, sweating and out of breath, and then Momiji who just jumped on him. Ritsu gasps as he runs up to Shigure's aid as Phoenix stood, not taking a step.

"Shigure-nii! Are you alright?" Ritsu asks, kneeling down beside him.

"Get Momiji off of-" Momiji, sitting on Shigure's back, grabs him by the hair and with his other hand, covers his mouth.

"No Ritsu! Don't worry about Shigure-nii!" Momiji yells, "He was getting Akito to get Phoenix to kill Tohru!" Ritsu's eyes grew wide in disbelief.

"I-is this true Shigure-nii?" Momiji lets go of Shigures' mouth to hear what he had to say.

"Yes, it is true!" Shigure yells, "But I did it for a reason!"

"What reason?" Phoenix asks, still not moving from the spot she's at. Shigure struggles to lift his head up, to look at her.

"All of us hated you Phoenix!" Shigure yells, stinging her in the heart, "You said you would do anything for Akito, right?" Phoenix nods.

"Yea… I did." Shigure smiles.

"When I found out you were Tohru's friend, I decided to find out if you really would do anything for Akito. As it turns out, you won't and I'm glad." Phoenix raises a brow, confused. "I told myself that if you killed Tohru, all of us would be wanting revenge for her. But if you didn't, it must mean you're not as bad as you made yourself look back when we were younger." Everyone opened to realization with what Shigure has done. Momiji got off of Shigure's back to let him stand. As Shigure stood, he dusted the dirt off of himself, before approaching Phoenix. Phoenix wanted to take a step back, but didn't. "Phoenix," Shigure says, "I am willing to give you a second chance." Shocked, Phoenix didn't know what to do or say until Tohru came running up, sweating and gasping for air.

"Tohru!" Momiji yells running up to her aid. Phoenix runs up to her as well along with Ritsu.

"T-Tammy…" Tohru says still gasping. "Are… are you… alright?" Phoenix pulls Tohru into a hug.

"I am, thanks." Phoenix says.


	9. no longer a pet

**Chapter 9: no longer a pet **

"Akito?" Phoenix says, walking into his room, seeing him leaning out his window. "I'm leaving now." Akito didn't say anything back. Phoenix sighs as she places her bags down to walk inside. "Akito… guess what Yuki and I did today?" Akito still said nothing. "We played this card game called Rich Man Poor Man. Kyo joined in for a while as well." Akito still said nothing back. "Come on Akito… talk to me." Phoenix asks as she goes to sit right next to him. "It's my last hour here, and I don't want you moping around like this."

"Look at that bird." Akito says, pointing out the window. Phoenix blinks twice, before looking out the window. She could see a red cardinal bird on the branches of one of the trees. "It's rare to see one of those kinds of birds around here."

"Yes… it is."

"Isn't that the same sort of bird you killed when you were younger?"

"No…" Akito turns an angry gaze towards her.

"Can't you just leave already?" Phoenix jumps back, frightened a bit.

"No! You're still moping." Akito stands up in a brittle like way, not turning away from the window.

"I thought… you said you would do anything for me." Phoenix frowns.

"I did." Akito slaps her hard on the cheek.

"Don't promise anything if you're just going to lie!" Phoenix rubs the spot where Akito slapped her. She walks towards the door angrily.

"Yea. You're right. Sorry I did. But just to let you know, everyone has his or her limits. Shigure helped me realize mine." Phoenix picks up her bag. "Good-bye Akito. I hope you feel better soon." With one hand, still carrying a bag, she manages to shut the door. As she was about to walk away, Akito runs up to the door, opening it violently to yell at her.

"Why did you lie to me?"

"I didn't!" Phoenix yells back, dropping her things on the ground. "You're the one who lied to me!"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"You were the one who said when we were kids that everyone will love me more if I was with you! What bull, I can't believe I believed you." Phoenix huffs angrily, looking as if flames were filling her eyes again. "You made my life worst. I only did what you said because that's how the zodiac story went: the phoenix does what god says. I was foolish enough to believe that's how life was suppose to be." Silence passed between them.

"What made you change your mind?" Phoenix thinks back.

"My friend back home in America, she use to live in a temple in Japan. She told me the story of the zodiac. It was long and each character in it each had an individual story. She told me about the Phoenix, unaware that I could turn into one. The Phoenix in the zodiac story was no good at all, just a pushover, brainwasher and the reason why everyone is cursed. After a while, I decided that I no longer wanted to be like that. For my sake and everyone else's." Akito's eyes widened, "I figured that if I were to not be like the phoenix responsible for the curse, then the curse would be broken." Akito runs up, choking her.

"You will not break the curse." Akito demands. "Never."

"Why not?" Phoenix says, coughing from lost of air. "You… you're… just giving… me reasons…" Akito kept gripping his hold around her neck, till finally, he lets go, letting her breath again. "Your giving me reason to break it!" Phoenix yells out as fast as she could. "Plus, I'm not your pet anymore so haha!" Akito shuts his eyes tight, turning his hands into fists.

"You should have stayed the way you were before." Akito says silently, going back to his room, slamming the door behind him. Phoenix smiles.

"I rather not…" she replies back, but saying it to herself. "I even scared myself then."

That was the end of the story. Sorry if the story seemed to be rushing. I just wanted to hurry up and get it done . Please tell me what you thought about it, and thank you very much for taking your time to read it all the way through like this


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